Sydney Morning Herald State Political Editor

Two senior NSW government ministers are set to fight it out at next year's election for the right to represent the electorate of Goulburn after the National party confirmed it was holding a preselection for the seat.

Nationals chairman Niall Blair announced on Monday that the preselection had opened and would close on February 24, with a ballot on March 14.

Goulburn is held by Community Services Minister Pru Goward, a Liberal MP, but it is anticipated Primary Industries Minister Katrina Hodgkinson will put her name forward for Nationals preselection this week.

National: Katrina Hodgkinson. Photo: Nick Moir

The decision by the Nationals - following an electoral redistribution last year that redrew Ms Hodgkinson's seat of Burrinjuck and renamed it Cootamundra - has infuriated the Liberals.

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A senior Liberal source said: ''The tail has wagged the dog too many times in the past and the Liberal Party will draw a line in the sand in relation to Goulburn.''

The source said a three-cornered contest in Goulburn would be ''disastrous'' because it would split the conservative vote.

There has been speculation that the Liberals might seek to protect Ms Goward by giving her a winnable position on the ticket for the upper house.

A spokesman for Ms Goward said the Minister was endorsed unanimously last year by local Liberal members to be their candidate at the 2015 poll.

''Pru's record in delivering for the people of Goulburn is strong and she looks forward to working on their behalf well into the future,'' the spokesman said.

Ms Hodgkinson did not respond to a request for comment.

Last year's redistribution also abolished Education Minister Adrian Piccoli's seat of Murrumbidgee, leaving him the option of running for Cootamundra or the new electorate of Murray, formed from the seat of Murray-Darling, which is held by Nationals MP John Williams.

An announcement by Mr Williams last week that he would seek preselection for the upper house next year presented the option of Mr Piccoli running in Murray and Ms Hodgkinson in Cootamundra, leaving Ms Goward alone.

But Mr Blair, who on Monday ruled himself out as a candidate, said the Nationals would not budge on the decision to run in Goulburn.

''We lay claim to Goulburn, the Liberals lay claim to Goulburn,'' he said. ''If we can't come to a resolution it will be up to the people of Goulburn to make a choice.''

In Sydney, Labor is urging Cameron Murphy, the long-time former president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and son of Whitlam minister Lionel Murphy, to contest the seat of East Hills, which takes in Padstow and Revesby.

He has been bracketed by ALP head office as part of the future leadership ranks in NSW.

Mr Murphy said: ''I'm considering my options.''

A senior Labor source confirmed discussions had taken place with Mr Murphy.

''We need a mix of people coming back [with previous government experience] and some fresh faces. Cameron would make a serious contribution,'' the source said.

Mr Murphy will have to face a rank and file preselection and is likely to face criticism of seat shopping as a long-term member of the inner-city Kings Cross branch. He contested the ALP community preselection for Clover Moore's vacated seat of Sydney but lost to Linda Scott, despite winning the popular vote.